Kashyap’s Bombay Velvet isn’t smooth enough; Ex-Machina is thought-provoking SF
Bombay Velvet **
Dir: Anurag Kashyap
Starring: Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Karan Johar, Satyadeep Misra,Kay Kay Menon, Manish Chaudhary, Siddhartha Basu, Vivaan Shah
Anurag Kashyap (Dev D, Gangs Of Wasseypur) is one of the best of the younger lot of Indian film directors, making films that are original, different, edgy, and thought-provoking. Accordingly, the film-maker detailing the sordid secret history of modern-day Bombay (or Mumbai, if you prefer) in a period crime noir sounds like a pretty exciting prospect. Unfortunately, Bombay Velvet doesn’t deliver on its promise.
Kashyap probably wanted Velvet to be his Once Upon A Time In America, a sprawling epic of romance and the nexus between crime, business and politics. But the Sergio Leone film isn’t his only influence. There are shades of Chinatown and Goodfellas here as well, as well as a nod to the early Warner Bros. Jimmy Cagney gangster flicks. Early on in the film, there is even a scene with the movie’s protagonist, Johnny (Ranbir Kapoor) earnestly watching the climax of Cagney’s classic The Roaring Twenties (I thought surely this couldn’t be a case of foreshadowing by Kashyap because that would be a bit too simplistic by his standards - unfortunately, I was proven wrong) and a scene later in the movie recalls Al Pacino and Brian De Palma’s Scarface, with Johnny shooting off an anachronistic tommy-gun in a rage-filled shootout. This is not to say that Kashyap is a copycat (like Anurag Basu). Far from it. Let’s just say that he is paying homage to some of his favourite films and filmmakers. But even for homage to work the underlying product still needs to come coherently together. Regrettably, despite its surface sheen, Bombay Velvet is all over the place.
Set mostly in the late ‘60s (though its sepia-tinged cinematography and fashions seems to suggest the ‘40s more than any other decade) the movie looks great. But it feels overstuffed with too many characters. Karan Johar has the most fun as the snooty but corrupt newspaper magnate and bootlegger Kaizad Khambatta, with subtle homo-erotic leanings towards the street-thug Johnny that he hires to run his nightclub and to do his other dirty work for him. But all the other characters aren’t really allowed to develop. The superficial characterisation and too many unconvincing plot contrivances (the Fight Club-inspired scenes are completely superfluous though, I suppose, Kashyap wants these to be a reflection of the rage and frustration that fuels Johnny) leaves the romance at the heart of the movie between Johnny and nightclub chanteuse Rosie (Anushka Sharma) never persuasive enough and the recounting of Bombay’s history gets lost somewhere along the line. The jazz-influenced score, however, is superb and two numbers ("Dharam Dharam", filmed on Sharma, and "Muhabbat Buri Bemari", filmed on Raveena Tandon in a cameo) are particularly terrific.
Cut to chase: Fizzles more than it sparkles.
Ex Machina *** ½
Dir: Alex Garland
Starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, Alicia Vikander
Screenwriter and novelist Alex Garland (28 Days Later, The Beach) makes his directorial debut with a movie that treads some of the same territory as Spike Jonze’s Herfrom a couple of years ago. Ex Machina is a thoughtful, thought-provoking, and sometimes disturbing exploration of the future of AI (artificial intelligence) as well as an examination of what it means to be human or to possess a soul.
Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), a programmer employed by the world’s biggest software company, is asked by his enigmatic boss, Nathan (Oscar Isaac) to work on a top secret project at a secluded research facility. Caleb’s assignment is to assess whether the alluring Ava (Alicia Vikander), a robot designed by Nathan, can pass for "human."But who is testing whom? And what is Nathan’s real agenda?
For much of the movie, Garland (who also wrote the film) keeps a tight rein on proceedings, slowly heightening the tension as he also ups the stakes. In comparison to what has preceded it, however, the movie’s climax is much more predictable and much less cerebral. But Garland gives us enough food for thought to make this a recommended watch.
Cut to chase:A though-provoking futuristic thriller.
Kmumtaz1hotmail.com; Twitter:KhusroMumtaz